Jew World Order

Gaming-machine supplier Aristocrat Leisure says that it must position itself for the online and mobile gaming market rather than just selling “a box”.

Aristocrat chief executive Jamie Odell said yesterday that the gaming industry would be transformed over the next three to five years by online and mobile technology.

He said that it is important for Aristocrat to develop the content to be carried on that technology.

“We’re positioning Aristocrat to be part of that transformation,” Odell said.

“It’s a quite different approach: service-supported gaming as opposed to selling the box [gaming machine] and then coming back in a few years’ time for a conversion.”

Odell said, for example, that Aristocrat is expanding its lotteries platform and its offering of downloadable games served to customers on a fee-per-usage basis.

Aristocrat is also looking at account-management systems for mobile gaming, and a trial is underway in a major province in China.

“Mobile gaming has the potential to completely overlap all current forms of gaming in terms of flexibility and adaptability,” Odell said.

Odell said that the trial in China could provide a potential basis for growth there.

“I’d be cautious about this, but we do see it as a strong footprint, and, moving into that core market, about how we can adapt the technology we already have to make it relevant to mobiles, and in time to build that business,” he said.

Aristocrat said yesterday that it booked an annual net profit of $66.14 million for the 2011 calendar year, down 14.3 per cent on the prior corresponding period.

But excluding significant items for both 2011 and 2010, profit rose by 21.1 per cent, and by 34 per cent on a constant currency basis.

The strong Australian dollar against the US dollar and the Japanese yen crimped revenue by $53.7 million and reported profit by $7.1 million.

Aristocrat expects mixed economic conditions and currency headwinds to continue in 2012, but said that the release of new games in 2012 would help boost underlying profit.

At this early stage in 2012, and based on current market conditions, Aristocrat expects strong growth in underlying full-year net profit, with operational performance well ahead of 2011.

“Significant new game releases in all major markets, progress in targeting profitable segments and continued cost discipline will drive a further lift in operational performance in 2012,” Odell said.

Aristocrat said that its underlying result for 2011 was at the top of the range of guidance provided to the market, and was due to a stronger operational performance.

Aristocrat said that new games, technology, systems and hardware were released in all key markets in 2011, and that gains in market share were made in the US and Australia.

Performance lifted despite the overlapping large casino openings in Singapore during the prior corresponding period, and the challenges from the natural disasters in Japan.

“The turnaround in the Australian business performance was a key contributor to year-on-year growth, and clearly demonstrates our product-led strategy being effectively executed,” Aristocrat said.